The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-21
THE VOLCANO IN MEXICO.
An American Makes a Journey to the
Vicinity.

|
Vicinity.
An FL Paso (Tex) letter to the Chicago
Tribune says: f. L. Vance has just re
turned here from a most perilous trip to the
| only active volcano i'll the Western Hemis-
phere. His trip was one of unusual hard
ship The volcano is twelve miles distant
! from the now totally destroyed hamlet of
! adobe huts, Bavispe in the State of Sonora
the northwestern division of the Republic of
| Mexico, about 400 miles i'll u Decline from
| Ell PaSo.
1.-THE rough nature of the country, the
deadly heat that prevails there nine months
out of the year, and the notable scarcity of
water and springs, said Mr.. Vance, has
| kept ont the American prOSpectOr from
mining region unexcelled-m the Superabund-
| ance of the hidden treasure. Even the hardy
| and rugged Mexican has failed to disclose
the secrets and wealth of this country, where
ores are said to be exposed to and trodden
| by the footsteps of wild beasts that inhabit
the place. The major portion of Sonora
| has never upheld human foot; 1t Is to-day
practically unexpored The discovery of
gold and silver ore on the borders of Sonora
| where it Is cropping out OF the ground, and
therefore exposed to the naked eyedn many
places has already Occasioned wild excite
ment here and at other places, and expe-
ditiOnS are preparing to start out soon.
| Here and there are scattering villages of
which Bavispe is a type This now famous
town, owing to the havoc of the recent
earthquake, is wholly built of adobe shan
ties and 'jacals,' half under the ground, and
rooted with mud brush. 1t contains $500
soulS-miSerable destitute individuals We
went via the CarTalitas hacienda on the
Britton Davis ranch, lying due east of
BaviSpe in the State Of chihuahua, the
ranch being the property of a syndicate
of Texas capitalists, and managed by
Lieut.. Britton Davis, son of eX-Gov. Davis,
of Texas. 1t is a beautiful valley of
grazing land to which all of the modern
necessities of life have been imported.
Here the actual journey began. Our sole
guide was q compass. We started due west
ward (by the way Immediately preceding
the government exploration corps sent out
by the State of Chihuahua) entering an
almost untrOdden, uneXplored domain. The
country lying between the ranch and Ba-
vispe is not unlike the Bad Lands of Dakota
The Mexican government corps took to the
south, a much longer route than the one our
party selected. Imagine valleys it takes a
day to cross, mountains whose immensely is
so vast and whose height is so Stupendous
that they dwarf the horizon with narrow
circle, and you have fair idea of the situa-
ton. To conceive the fatigue and ardor of
the trip Que must add a blazing sun
that Scorched and shriveed
tile very ground, a parched
and alkali-laden wind blowing at midday
and clOgging the throat with its Smarting
particles. 1t seemed to sweep the earth,
like furnaces breath 1t was our eighth
day out from the ranch that we sighted Ba-
vispe, at which time we felt the first init
nation of seismic Disturbance sharp
tremor of the earth. The shocks were nau-
seating and frequent. We sighted Bavspe
at 10 o'clock a. M. We came TO the encamp-
ment of several hundred prople on the mesa
which embarked the town. The dawn of
May last the villagers were awakened by
the earth beneath them vibrating and quak-
ing with violence that reduced the place
to ruins One BALI the adobes were thrown
to the ground, and the natives, terrified
with the appalling occurrence,
and panic-stricken by its suddenness,
sought safety clad only in their night
clothes, on the adjoining elevations Since
that fatal morning no day has passed unat-
tended by tremOrs more or less alarming,
In their apathy of despair the natives barely
noticed our expedition, that would other
wise have created great curiosity, and we
passed along almost unnoticed There is
not house left in the place
Some of the inhabitants have gone South,
hut most of them are too poor to attempt
to leave; it would mean certain death
They were not disposed to converse and
it was useless TO try to obtain any accurate
estimate of the shocking mortality. At
Bavispe we first sighted our objective point,
the volcano, where we could plainly see
dense smoke issuing from "A low, square
topped peak to the southwest. The duh
and muttering roar distinctly heard told of
the working of natures furnaces in the
bowels of the earth The volcano is twelve
miles distant from Bavispe, over such eX-
traordinary country that it took us two
whole days to travel it. We followed the
dry bed of a stream of some forgotten age,
containing assures of evidently recent
| ? l.,
depth. From one Of these Spouted a
geyser exceeding in size the largest one in
| Yellowstone Park. Ii is in the centre of a
basin of mud and sand and Spouts forth at
short intervals, say fifteen minutes. It sub
sides quickly The water is about boiling
hot and you cannot approach very closely
This was four or five miles from the vol
cano, which we could not approach in a di-
rect line. We turned south and gained n
peak from which we could overlook the
great spectacle. which at night is verita-
bic imaginary hell a river of lava barred
our first course. 1t must have been sight
that would have awcd the very manager of
sheol hims2ly when the hot lava, which was
cooled when our party reached there, came
rushing down the mountain side a red-hot
deluge of ConglOmerated mixture, which
cast deadly heat for miles around The
position we reached enabled us to view the
re<l-lipped mouth of the volcano below us
and seemingly only about one mile distant
the nearest It had been approached The
crater forms Il rude oval, which is lower at
the north and rises in ragged peaks to the
south. The prevailing wind from the north
favored our view The hues of the smoke
changed constantly. 1t had been a lake of
liquid flame, but there was no actual
eruption at our first view At the
farther side was Il depression formed by
lava, and a smoking river ran over n steep
doclivity, where il was checked by Il guch
and turned northward in the direction of
Bavispe The stream stopped about two
miles from its source. The sea of fire was
now IN its cooled state, "A gray color Our
position wCuld have been unsafe with the